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Cellphones have already become the way many of us take photos, view mapping data and – soon – pay for purchases. Now the world’s biggest lock-maker wants to transform phones into access devices that open doors at homes, offices and campuses.

Arizona State University tested digital keys on several types of smartphones this fall.

HID Global, a California-based division of Sweden’s Assa Abloy, is testing software that acts as a digital key when loaded onto a smartphone. The software, which interacts with physical ID card readers via an application or by swiping it near a reader, could eventually replace the plastic badges that millions of people worldwide use to securely enter their offices and other facilities. It could also expand the business of HID Global which up to now has focused on the delivery of secure identity, such as smart cards, for access to buildings and offices. And it could alter the landscape for Assa Abloy, the world's largest vendor of mechanical door locks.

Colleges are one potential market for the new keys, which essentially translate the identity information stored on traditional badges into portable, digital form. Arizona State University (ASU) recently completed a month-long trial of the technology with HID Global. Feedback from the 32 ASU participants was “pretty positive,” says Laura Ploughe, who oversees the university’s business applications, purchasing and electronic access systems.

Nearly all of the students and young staffers in the ASU study said they wished their phones could open doors across the school’s Tempe, Ariz. campus. A number of students not in the study asked to try out the technology.

ASU is still evaluating whether to adopt digital keys but HID Global has lined up other pilot projects, including some with U.S. companies. Denis Hébert, HID’s President and Chief Executive, says he expects the keys to be implemented in Europe by the second half of 2012, with the U.S. following. HID has also been testing the technology in its own offices for several months.

The pace of adoption depends, in part, on the maturation of Near Field Communication (NFC). HID’s digital key software uses this short-range wireless technology to talk to hardware readers. Though NFC is attracting attention from handset makers, wireless operators and payment processors, it is still hard to find in most U.S. buildings and cellphones. Before rolling out digital keys, ASU needs to “wait until clear NFC standards are set and see what the cost is and where the functionality is going,” says Ploughe.

To compensate for the lack of U.S. NFC-enabled phones, the ASU trial loaded HID's software on microSD cards. Hébert says the mini storage cards gave the phones – a mix of BlackBerry Bolds, iPhone 4s and Google Android-based Samsung phones – the same basic functionality as NFC handsets. For the widest possible deployment, HID’s software is designed to work with a range of mobile operating systems as well as devices that store NFC on small, removable memory chips known as SIM cards (as opposed to microSD cards).

Beyond campuses, HID thinks the technology is a match for stores, hotels, homes, offices and government facilities. Because they include NFC, digital key-enabled phones could also be used to pay for public transportation, store electronic event tickets, access hotel rooms and redeem coupons. “We’re taking NFC beyond cashless payments,” says Hébert.

Since they are digital, the keys can be distributed over the air or revoked remotely via a signal sent to the phone. For buildings that require additional security, like government offices, the keys can be combined with other forms of authentication, such as PIN numbers or biometrics. They could also be used in private residences or to access sensitive information on electronic devices like computers.

If the concept takes off, HID stands to make money off hardware upgrades as well as software sales. HID’s high-end Secure Identity Object-enabled readers, called SE for short, are a natural fit for the company’s digital keys. Hébert says other high-frequency (13.56 MHz) , NFC-compatible readers should also be able to decrypt the keys.